Why You Should Clean Your Grill With An Onion

Why You Should Clean Your Grill With An Onion

While grilling is a fun and delicious pastime, cleaning a grill can be an annoying chore. And since the messiest parts of the grill are where food is directly placed, not everyone is a fan of using traditional chemical cleaners.

However, there is an all-natural item you can use to clean your grill and it’s something you probably already have in your pantry: an onion! All you have to do is cut an onion in half, and while the grill is still warm, use a tong or fork to rub the cut-side of the onion hard across the grill’s grates, being careful not to touch the grill with your hand.

Using this onion scrub should remove any stuck-on grime or charred food, thanks to the enzymes in the onion and the friction of moving the vegetable around. As a bonus, it will also season your grill with a delicious grilled onion flavor.

Here is an example of how it looks, though we recommend shutting the flame off when you clean — unless you are trying to simultaneously roast an onion and clean a grill at the same time, like the person in the below tweet:

Onions aren’t the only non-toxic way to clean a grill. Here are a few more ideas you can try:

Lemons

Like the onion hack, cut a lemon in half and then sprinkle with salt before using it like a sponge to clean a cooled-off grill. The lemon’s acidity helps to break down grit and grease.

Water-Soaked Newspapers

For cleaning a warm — but not hot — grill, you can try “steam cleaning” it by placing wet newspapers inside the grill for 30 minutes with the lid closed.

Vinegar And Aluminum Foil

For this grill hack, pour some white vinegar into a spray bottle and then coat your grill with it. Then, crumple up a ball of aluminum foil and use it like a scouring pad to scrub away caked-on dirt. Your grill will be looking clean in no time!